15.6.10

Celtic League recognised by United Nations

The United Nations (UN) has recommended that the Celtic League be given special status within their organisation, with the aim of working more closely together on particular topics in the future.

The Celtic League's `Roster Status' within the UN will be with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), because the League "can make occasional and useful contributions to the work of ECOSOC or its subsidiary bodies". This means that the League is in limited consultative status with the UN and can be called on by the UN to contribute to discussions to help it form an opinion on certain topics in particular areas. The status also means that the League can attend UN meetings, are invited to attend international conferences, contribute to forums and designate UN representatives.

The ECOSOC Committee is composed of 19 state members of the United Nations and the decision to recommend the Celtic League to Roster Status followed a proposal by Egypt. The League is still waiting to hear confirmation from the UN on what areas in particular it would like the organisation to contribute to.

The Roster Status was set up to improve and enhance the involvement of Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) in the work of the UN and the Celtic League will join only another 979 organisations from around the world with this privileged status. Roster Status is normally restricted to NGO's with a narrow and/or technical focus and includes the Association for World Education, International Federation for the Protection of the Rights of Ethnic, Religious, Linguistic and Other Minorities and Refugees International.

The Celtic League's General Secretary, Rhisiart Tal-e-bot, said:

"The Celtic League has regularly been in contact with UN bodies over the course of its almost 50 year existence on a range of different topics. Over the last year we have been in frequent communication with ECOSOC in particular and the decision to recommend the League to Roster Status is the result of the recognition of the specialist knowledge and important work that the League does in the Celtic countries.

The Celtic League is an international organisation, with branches in the six Celtic countries, in addition to branches in Patagonia, the USA and England, as well as a separate International branch. We are the only organisation of our type in the world and campaign on issues on a broad spectrum of topics from the rights of prisoners to the depletion of fish stocks around the Celtic countries.

It is a privilege for the United Nations to recognise our work in this way and I would like to thank all those members of the League who have contributed their time voluntarily over the years to make the organisation what it is today."

The Celtic League has branches in the six Celtic Countries. It works to promote cooperation between these countries and campaigns on a broad range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights human rights abuse, monitors all military activity and focuses on socio-economic issues.